Yoga Teacher Training Update III

It was the last weekend.

That’s it. Yoga teacher training complete!

200 training hours ago I had never considered that I’d actually finish the Seva Yoga Teacher Training at Yoga Pod The Woodlands. Not because of anything morbid or due to self doubt but I just kept going and didn’t consider the end result. So I feel pretty awesome right now!

It’s been a long road. 200 hours isn’t a lifetime but because I’m thirty years old and I haven’t been in a true student role since college. It’s bean a beat since I graduated so this was a homecoming to learning the old fashioned way. Well, as old fashioned as yoga teacher training can be. Switch out the desks for yoga mats, speeches for practice classes and capri sun pouches for homemade green juice.

In my first and second YTT updates I detailed how we scoured the history of yoga, our obsessive anatomy videos and that we learned how to put together a full yoga class. Since then we’ve taught. And then we taught some more. To each other and even loved ones!

On Mother’s Day we hosted a friends and family yoga class (invite only, very posh), this was our first time instructing a room of non yoga teacher trainees. Mr. Giddy was there of course and even my Mom came! Everyone did so well, including the non yogi supporters that came just to please us newbie teachers.

Not only did we teach a special Mother’s Day class but we also had to create and instruct an entire class (our ‘test out’ class) by ourselves as our final assignment this past weekend. We had only taught partial classes before so this was our big finale! Many of us chose our favorite asanas (yoga poses) as the highlight of our classes. Camel, splits, tree, dancer and more. Even though we wanted to showcase our absolute favorite yoga moves we had to keep reminding ourselves that there may be non yogis in our classes in the future.

Our trainers many years of yoga experience truly came in handy with this lesson. Sure all of us trainees know the names of poses, how to cue them and what the benefits are…but what to do when you have a room full of yogis of varying experience? We have to make it work for everyone!

Because I’ve mostly taught fitness to a mature (and wise!) audience I’m used to teaching to the middle or even more of a beginner level. But in my test out class I gladly picked up the difficulty and still offered easier options. It was fun to go all in with some challenging poses to fire everyone up!

Kat, Mrs. Giddy, Bethany, Emily & Bella at our graduation party!

My fellow teacher trainees excelled in their test out classes. Kat displayed her kind, spiritual side. Bethany showed how simple flows can make us feel strong. Emily took us on a fun journey to the splits and Bella filled her class with heart opening, thought provoking language. I’m so proud of them and look forward to taking their classes again soon. You should check them out!

We had a few celebrations over the weekend. And when I say few I actually mean A LOT. I’m not sure what a vegetable looks like anymore! Dinners with friends, pool party at fellow trainee Emily’s house and a champagne toast at the studio in our last hours of training. My yogi brain is fried and my belly is full of sugar. I guess I need to hit up a restorative yoga class to even myself out. And I know just where to go!

Yoga Pod The Woodlands, duh.

Shout outs go out to our fabulous instructors. Tiffany, Tayler, Melony, Karen and special guest stars Bernadette, Felicia and Lauren. I’m so giddy to have learned from you all!

Thank you giddy people for following along on my yoga teacher training journey. I will be teaching public classes soon! If you would like to know when and where these classes are please email guaranteedgiddy@gmail.com. Let’s yoga together!